Bodyguard
by shadrougeforever
Summary: When an innocent little girl holds information to a top secret weapon, Lance wants it. Now it's up to Shadow to keep this girl safe. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

**PROJECT D.E.A.T.H.**

"Daddy!" A little brown female squirrel shouted with excitement while she ran down the narrow hallway of a top secret facility. While she ran, a piece of paper that she was holding was flying in the air. She ran into a room and ran to an adult male brown squirrel working on his computer. "Daddy!" She shouted again.

The brown squirrel was startled. He looked away from his computer screen and faced her, "What is it?"

The girl handed the man the paper.

The man studied it. He then looked away from it and smiled, "Very nice." He looked at the paper again.

The paper had a kid drawn picture of the girl and her father.

The man picked her up and sat her on his lap, "This looks just like me."

"I just drew it", she said with pride.

The man set it aside, "I'll hang it on my wall later."

The girl stared at the computer screen wondering what all the numbers on the monitor represented. She pointed to the screen, "Daddy, what do these numbers all say?"

Her father looked at the computer screen and easily answered her question, "Those are some of the formulas telling about Project D.E.A.T.H."

It all came to the girl, "I know about that."

The man smiled, "Of course you know and you're going to be one of the people to tell to the world what Project D.E.A.T.H. really is."

The girl smiled back at him.

All of sudden a group of Street Punks came through the door with guns in their hands pointing them at all the people who were in there.

"Everyone put your hands in the air and follow my every command", a grey fox said.

"What if we don't?" One man said.

The grey fox thought, 'What a stupid question.' He pointed his gun at the man and shot him in the head.

The man fell to the floor bleeding from his skull.

The grey fox looked at the rest of them with annoyance, "You bastards want to ask more dumb ass questions!"

The father whispered down to his daughter while he had his hands in the air, "Get out of here, right now."

The girl shook her head, "No, I won't leave you", she whispered back.

A red porcupine apart of the Street Punks looked over to the father and daughter, "Hey quiet! Unless you want to say hi to a bullet."

The girl held on to her father, "Dad, I'm scared."

"I said quiet!" His shouting was put to rest when the grey fox put his hand on the porcupine's shoulder.

"Easy, Appex. I got it covered." The grey fox walked over to the girl and her father slowly. He formed an evil smirk, "My commands are simple. Tell me what I want to hear and the rest of your staff will be unharmed."

"What do you want?" He asked nervously.

"I want to know about Project D.E.A.T.H."

The man's eyes widened, "I won't tell you anything nor will the rest of us."

The grey fox's smirk turned into a frown.

"What do you want us to do, Lance?" A brown chipmunk asked.

The fox faced his servants, "Kill every damn person in this god damn room!"

All of the Street Punks started to use their guns and shot every person they saw.

Lance pointed his gun at the girl's father.

The girl was frightened. She didn't want to lose her father so soon, "Don't kill him!" She begged.

Lance was annoyed by the girl, "Stay outta my way!" He used his gun and hit the girl on the side of her head with it.

She fell to the ground bleeding from her head. She held the side of her head. She cried when she saw blood dripping from her head.

"I said move bitch!" Lance used his foot and kicked the girl to the side.

"Kayla!" The father began to cry also. He didn't want to see his daughter getting tortured like this.

Lance pointed the gun to his head, "I'll give you death all right." He pulled the trigger and shot the man in his forehead.

He fell to the floor bleeding to death from his head, "Kayla...run..." He at last passed out and died.

The girl then made a run for it out the emergency exit while crying.

Lance didn't care about the girl at the time. When he returned to his team, they were waiting for his next order.

"We killed every person in the facility. What do we do now?" Appex said.

"Not everyone, Appex. What about the girl?" A green and black squirrel said.

Lance looked around the bloody room, "Who gives a shit. Let's go."

The chipmunk stopped his leader, "Do you think she would tell the cops about us?"

Lance hit his head with his fist, "A strong possibility. We gotta find that brat and soon."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**A NEW MYSTERY**

That next day at the Chaotix Shadow was leaning against the wall holding his girlfriend, Rouge around her waist kissing her.

Espio walked over to them disturbing their romantic moment.

Shadow took his attention away from Rouge and looked at Espio with annoyance, "Do you mind?"

"Just asking, since you guys are really close and all. I guess you two already did it."

Rouge slapped Espio hard in the face, "That's none of your business, Espio!"

Espio fell to the floor with a red mark across his face. He stood up holding his red cheek, "All I wanted to say is aren't you two planning to have a kid or something?"

Shadow had his arms crossed, "Yeah right. Kids are nothing but trouble. I'm never having kids."

Rouge thought differently, "Well...a child would be nice."

"What! No way, a kid is nothing but a nightmare. If you want one you can happily dream about one."

"You never had a child before. You know nothing about them."

"I know that they're annoying and nothing but snot-nosed brats."

Rouge put her hands on her hips and began to walk away, "If that's what you think about children, then I'm disgusted with you." She walked away.

Espio felt kinda bad for even starting the argument, "I'm sorry, Shadow. I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay, Es. It's not your fault. You should know by now that Rouge and I get into fights almost everyday." He shrugged, "She'll get over it. That's how she is."

"If you say so."

"Shadow, Espio come here", Vector called.

Shadow and Espio ran over to him.

"What is it?" Espio asked.

"We got another case", Vector said.

Later the Chaotix got to an abandoned facility where the Street Punks invaded and killed everyone. They checked around the bloody room and looked for clues.

Shadow looked around on the floor and found a piece of grey fur laying on the floor. He picked it up and examined it. He frowned, "This is Lance's fur."

Rouge looked over to one of the desks. She spotted a piece of paper with a drawing on it. She picked it up and looked at it. It looked like a little kid drew the picture. It didn't give her much information. She ran over to Vector and showed him the picture, "Do you think a kid was here?"

Vector studied the picture, "Seems like it."

"Did she become a victim as well?" Charmy said.

Shadow began to leave the room.

Rouge was concerned, "Where are you going?"

He turned to face the group, "To find Lance. He's behind this, I know it."

"Let me come with you!" Rouge and Espio said together.

"Fine, just don't get in the way", he walked out of the room with Rouge and Espio behind him.

"I wonder if Captain Shadow is mad again?" Charmy said a little worried.

"He always gets a little uptight when it comes to dealing with the Street Punks", Tonya said.

Vector nodded, "You're right about that."

Later when Shadow, Espio, and Rouge crossed into the Street Punks hideout, Shadow kicked the door down and walked into the room with a serious look. He looked around the room for a short time.

"Well, well if it isn't Detective Hedgehog", a red porcupine said as he approached from a corner.

Shadow gritted his teeth, "Appex..." He ran towards him and grabbed him by the neck, "Where's Lance?"

The porcupine tried to talk clearly, "Out."

"Why?"

"None of your business."

Shadow's grip around his neck got tighter.

"Shadow, no you'll kill him", Espio was going to stop him, but Rouge held him back.

Rouge shook her head, "He said don't interfere."

Espio then remembered. He sighed and stepped back.

Appex tried to speak, "Now matter what you do to me, I'll tell you nothing."

Shadow wanted to kill him, but he decided to let him live. His grip around Appex's neck slipped away.

Appex fell to the floor holding his neck.

Shadow left the room without saying a word with Espio and Rouge following behind.

Outside of the Street Punks hideout, Shadow leaned against the wall thinking about what he would do next.

"What are gonna do next, Shad?" Espio asked.

Shadow got away from the wall and faced Espio, "We gotta find Lance and fast. We don't know what he's planning."

Rouge had her arms crossed, "That's true."

Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a crashing noise deep in the alley they were in.

They ran into the trashy area and saw someone hiding behind a trash can.

Shadow took out his gun from his holster. He pointed it at the person, "Come out now."

The person peeked from the trash can. She was nothing, but a scared little girl.

Shadow put his gun back in the holster, "It's a kid."

"She looks so scared", Rouge noticed.

Shadow noticed the side of her head was severely bruised. He started to reached out for her, "What happened to you?"

When his hand got closer to her, she had gotten scared and quickly bit him on his finger.

Shadow yelled and held his finger, "Son of a bitch! That bitch bit me!" He grabbed her arm.

The girl started to struggle in his grip.

"Stop moving. I'm trying to help you."

The girl struggled even more, "Get off me! Leave me alone!" She shouted with tears emerging from her eyes.

Shadow held her down to the ground. He faced Rouge and Espio, "Don't just stand there, hold her down."

Rouge held her by her wrists and Espio held her by her legs.

While they were doing that, Shadow took out a needle filled with some type of drug and inserted the liquid in her neck.

Afterwards the girl peacefully went to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

**COMFORTING**

Later that evening at Shadow's house, Shadow and Rouge were in the kitchen. Shadow was contacting Vector on his communicator with Rouge watching, "Did you find anything about the facility?"

Vector shook his head, "Unfortunately no. All the computers are password protected we can't get through. It'll take a genius to get through that. Anyway Espio said that you found a little girl."

"Yeah she's here with me. She put up one hell of a fight when I first found her. I settled her down with a drug. She's okay, she's in my bedroom sleeping."

"Get some information out of her, we're already in a confusing jam here anyway."

"I'll see what I can do", he shut off his communicator. He faced Rouge, "We gotta get through to that girl."

"Didn't you see how she acted when we tried to help her? That girl was helpless and scared." Rouge could still imagine what her terrified face looked like.

"I wonder what caused her to go off like that."

Rouge changed the subject, "Shad, sweetheart I'm sorry for what happened the other day. I didn't mean to..." The next thing she knew, she was held around her waist being hugged by Shadow. She hugged him back.

"I forgive you." he kissed her and she returned the favor.

With their tongues fighting it seemed that the moment would last forever.

Shadow had his hand in her pants letting her know what he wanted.

Rouge reached the zipper to her pants, but couldn't proceed any further because of the little yawn she heard from the doorway. She gasped as she looked over. She saw the little girl standing there staring at what they were doing.

Shadow hadn't notice that she was there until Rouge unexpectedly took his hand out of her pants. That caught his attention and he looked over to her as well. "It's you. Do you remember me?"

The girl said nothing and just went back upstairs.

Shadow crossed his arms, "That's a yes."

"We have to talk to her", Rouge followed the girl with Shadow following behind her.

When they made it upstairs, Shadow and Rouge came to the bedroom door.

Shadow twisted the doorknob and noticed that it was locked. He then kicked the door open.

The girl ran from the doorway getting even more afraid when she saw the black hedgehog appear in front of her. She began to run around the room, "Leave me alone!"

Shadow tried to talk to her, "Take it easy."

She sat in a corner, "No, get away!"

Rouge walked up to her slowly, "It's okay sweetheart, we won't hurt you."

The girl continued to resist, "No! You'll put me to sleep!"

Shadow grabbed the girl by her arm, "Listen, I won't put you to sleep! Just cooperate with us!"

The girl started to calm down, "What do you want?"

Shadow let go of her arm, "I want you to tell us what you doing in that alleyway by yourself."

The girl started to explain, "A group of Street Punks came into the facility and killed everybody. Even my dad."

Shadow's eyes widened, "What? Why would Lance and his gang do that?"

The girl shrugged, "I don't know, but he wanted to know about Project D.E.A.T.H. and my dad wouldn't tell him so that bad man shot him." She started to cry, "He shot my dad."

Rouge kneeled down to her and held her close, "It's okay."

Shadow crossed his arms, "Do you know anything about Project D.E.A.T.H.?"

The girl nodded a little while Rouge wiped away some of her tears, "A little."

"Damn, Lance could be searching for you. What's your name?"

"Kayla."

"What are we going to do, Shadow?" Rouge said as she cradled the small child in her arms.

Shadow kneeled down at the child and stroked the hair on her head, "I'll protect her and I swear I'm going to keep her safe."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

**FINDING ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS**

Later that morning at Shadow's house, Kayla was sitting at the kitchen table eating waffles. She ate them like she hasn't eaten in days.

Shadow joined her at the table, "Slow down. You act like you haven't eaten in a while."

Kayla still had her mind on the food placed on the table, "I can't help it. I love your waffles. They're so good."

Shadow smirked, "I've never heard that compliment before."

"You should it's the truth."

Then a white bat came through the door, "Hey, Shad."

Shadow looked over to her, "Damn it Rouge, use the doorbell. You can't just barge in here."

"Why can't I just walk in here? It's not a crime is it?" Rouge kissed Shadow on the ear then took a napkin from the table and wiped some of the syrup around Kayla's mouth.

"Walk in here if you want, but I promise you after when I'm through kicking your ass you won't be walking anymore."

Rouge put her hands in her hips, "Now Shadow, a kid's with you now. You have to watch that mouth of yours."

"Come on, kids hear a lot more shit on TV than they do in the real world."

Rouge gave him a glare, "Shadow."

"What?"

"I said watch it. I don't want this sweet child to obtain your bad habits."

"Fine, I'll try to back off from the language. When I was a kid my mother never said anything about my mouth."

"You mean she never punished you?"

Shadow shook his head, "Unlike people today, she respected me."

Rouge crossed her arms, not believing what he just said.

Shadow watched as Kayla put her plate in the sink, "I guess I should take her with me if I have to protect her."

"We need to ask her about Project D.E.A.T.H."

Kayla looked nervously over to Rouge.

Somehow Shadow knew that she didn't want to talk about Project D.E.A.T.H. at the moment. He walked over to Kayla and took her hand, "Come on, I get to the Chaotix."

"Will other detectives be there?" The girl asked.

Shadow nodded, "You bet. They're kinda crazy. I'm surprised that I haven't lost it yet."

The girl giggled, "They sound fun."

Later Shadow, Rouge, and Kayla got to the Chaotix.

Vector and Charmy were watching Tonya looking up information about Project D.E.A.T.H. on her computer.

"Did you find anything?" Charmy asked.

Tonya kept typing on the keyboard, "Not yet."

Vector noticed Shadow and Rouge come through the door with a little girl along with them.

Kayla looked around the building, "This place is huge."

Tonya had her attention on the girl, "So that's the girl huh?"

Vector walked over to the child and kneeled down at her, "You must be Kayla right?"

"Yes, sir", Kayla said a little nervous.

"We know what happened at the facility and you're the only survivor. We can't get through to the computers, so we need to know."

"About what?"

"Lance wanted to know about Project D.E.A.T.H. and we do too. Tell us about Project D.E.A.T.H."

Kayla ran away from him and ran behind Rouge, "No, I won't tell anyone!"

Vector was getting impatient. He began to walk over to her, "Is it a weapon? We gotta know! Everyone's future depends on you."

Shadow stood in front of him, "That's enough, Vector."

Vector was confused, "Why?"

Shadow looked back at the frightened child hiding behind Rouge. He looked back at Vector, "Can't you see that she's scared? She doesn't want to talk."

"How are we suppose to get any information out of her?"

"When she feels like it."

"That could take forever. We don't know what Lance is up to. Once he finds out about Project D.E.A.T.H. he could use it against us."

"I'll take that chance."

Kayla looked up at Rouge, "I don't like that crocodile, Detective Bat."

Rouge kneeled down and stroked through her hair, "Of course you don't."

Vector was a little insulted, "Hey I'm the good guy here!"

Shadow looked over at Rouge playing with the girl's hair, 'Something's holding her back. I guess she doesn't completely trusts us yet.'

Espio tapped on Shadow's shoulder.

Shadow turned to face him.

"Do you think she'll ever come through?"

Shadow looked back at the child, "I don't know."

"That was so unlike you, Shadow."

Shadow looked back at Espio, "What was?"

"You volunteering to keep the girl safe. See you do like kids."

Shadow crossed his arms, "This one isn't like the rest."

Espio smirked, "Yeah but still."

Shadow glared at Espio, "Drop it okay." He walked over to Rouge and Kayla.

Espio sighed, "I was starting to wonder when his grumpy side would show."

Later that night at Shadow's house in the kitchen, Shadow checked the time and figured it was time for Kayla to go to bed, "It's getting late. Time for you to go to bed."

Kayla sighed, "Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"But it's only eight o'clock."

"I know that, but you're a child you need plenty of rest."

Kayla jumped up and down on the kitchen floor, "It's not fair! It's not fair! It's not fair!"

Shadow couldn't take anymore of her whining, "Shut up and do as I say!" As he shouted, the girl was startled.

Her eyes started to water, "You yelled at me."

"That wouldn't happen if you never pissed me off."

"I'm telling Detective Bat on you."

"For what?"

"One you yelled at me and two you just said a bad word."

"What! You made me!"

"I'm still telling on you. You're not a very nice person, Detective Hedgehog."

Shadow took the girl by her arm and led her into the spare bedroom. When they got there he threw her on the bed, "Lay your little ass down and take a time out."

The girl continued to resist, "No, I won't do it! You can't make me!"

"For god's sake listen to me."

"No!"

Shadow sat on the bed with her, "Why are you acting this way?"

"Because you're mean."

"That isn't the reason."

The girl calmed down and sat beside Shadow, "I don't know, I guess I miss my dad."

Shadow held her close to him, "It's okay to miss your father, Kayla. It must be very sad when you don't have a father to look after you."

Kayla looked up at Shadow, "Do you have a daddy, Detective Hedgehog?"

Shadow was silent for a second, "I...did."

"What do you mean...did?"

"My father's in heaven."

Kayla gasped, "I'm sorry, Detective Hedgehog."

"It's okay you didn't know."

"You must be really sad."

Shadow didn't face her. He tried not to cry.

Kayla held his hand, "Please, don't be sad."

Shadow faced her.

Kayla had tears in her eyes, "Or you'll make me sad too."

Shadow made a slight smile and hugged her, "Don't cry."

Kayla smiled and hugged him back.

They broke away.

Shadow started to leave the room. He looked back at the child, "Goodnight, Kayla."

Kayla got in bed and yawned, "Good night, Detective Hedgehog." She slowly went to sleep.

Shadow smiled, turned off the light and left the room.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

**BONDING**

That next morning at Shadow's house, Kayla woke up and walked downstairs into the kitchen looking at Shadow and Rouge kissing each other. She made a fake cough to get their attention.

Shadow and Rouge immediately broke away from each other and acted like nothing happened.

"Detective Bat, Detective Hedgehog said some pretty mean things last night", Kayla said with a smile.

"What did he say?" Rouge asked.

"He said the p word and the a word."

Rouge looked at Shadow with a glare, "Shadow."

"It slipped okay", even though Shadow meant to say it on purpose to get Kayla's attention.

Rouge smirked, "For that little slip up, I may have to punish you." She giggled a bit afterwards.

Kayla was hoping for Rouge to teach Shadow a lesson, "Are you gonna spank him?"

Rouge shook her head, "No, but very close."

Shadow knew what she was saying. He was just glad that Kayla didn't understand their conversation.

Rouge kissed Shadow and began to walk out the door, "I'll see you two around." She looked back at Shadow, "And Shadow, behave yourself."

Shadow sighed, "Yeah I know."

After when she left, Kayla kinda felt bad for telling on Shadow. "I'm sorry, Detective Hedgehog. I didn't mean to get you in trouble with Detective Bat."

"It's okay I like getting in trouble with her."

"Why would you like that?"

Shadow didn't want to fill her in with any inappropriate content so he dropped the subject, "Never mind that. Do you feel like taking a walk?"

The child nodded.

Shadow took the girl by the hand and walked out the door.

Later at the Street Punks hideout, Lance was hitting himself in the head slightly with his handgun. "We'll never find that brat."

"We'll find her", the brown chipmunk said with hope.

The green and black squirrel faced him, "Shut up, Maxcell! You don't make things better!"

"You shut up, Zena!" The chipmunk shouted back.

Their argument was interrupted when they heard a gunfire. They both looked over to the grey fox that had his gun in the air with smoke coming from it.

Lance glared at them, "Why don't you both shut up so I can think."

"She's probably already found help by now. The police will be looking for us", Appex said.

"I'm still gonna kill that little bitch."

Maxcell had a theory, "Do you think she knows anything about Project D.E.A.T.H.? After all I bet she spends most of her time there. Other than that she's the only survivor of that massacre we made."

Lance then thought about it for a second, "I can't believe I let her go."

"We'll find her for sure. I'm going to search for her more. She couldn't have gone far", Appex left the room and went out to find the child.

Later at the park, Shadow and Kayla decided to rest after their walk.

Kayla was resting her body on Shadow, "This day sure is pretty."

Shadow agreed as he looked at the clear blue sky, "Sure is."

"I like these kind of days. Don't you?"

"I do."

"My dad and I always came here after his shift. I always slept on his body while he played with my hair. That's what I liked about these kind of days." She looked up at Shadow, "You almost remind me of my dad."

Shadow looked down at her, "I do?"

She nodded, "Except he's not a hedgehog and he's not black and red and he always smiled. But other than that you take care of me like my daddy and look after me. If you were a daddy, you'd be the best daddy in the world."

Shadow blushed at the comment. He had no idea what to say to her. He took his fingers and stroked through her hair with them.

Kayla almost fell asleep, until she heard a stranger's voice behind her.

"Hedgehog, I've should've known you were here."

Shadow stood from the ground and quickly turned and saw a red porcupine behind him, "What do you want?"

Kayla studied his face. She recognized his face anywhere, "It's you from the facility."

The porcupine looked back at her surprised to see her with Shadow, "You...were with him the entire time?"

Kayla embraced on Shadow. She was frightened, "Detective Hedgehog, don't let him kill me."

"I won't kill you. All I want is to learn about Project D.E.A.T.H." He said calmly.

"No, I won't tell you." Kayla still didn't want to talk about the project.

"Tell me or I will kill you!" Appex said with his quills sticking up from his back.

"No!" Kayla shouted.

"You little brat", a quill appeared from Appex's hand. "If you won't talk, I'll make you talk!" He threw his sharp red quill at Kayla, but it never hit her.

Instead the quill struck into Shadow's hand.

Shadow kneeled to the ground holding his bleeding hand.

"Detective Hedgehog!" The girl screamed. She tried to help him from the ground, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine", he answered looking at his wounded hand. 'I can't fight, Appex. Not now. His quills scatter everywhere. I can't take that risk, not when Kayla's counting on me.' He took Kayla's hand and started to run.

Appex didn't run after them, 'Is he watching over her or something? I wonder if that brat told him anything about Project D.E.A.T.H. No matter Lance will get a kick out of this.'


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

**PROMISES**

Later at Rouge's house, Rouge was sitting on the sofa with Shadow treating his wound. "Dear god Shadow, what happened?"

He answered in pain, "Appex, he came after Kayla. He found out that I was with her. He tried to kill her, but he got me instead."

Rouge took out the sharp quill that was stuck in the palm of his hand. She removed the bloody glove from his hand and set it aside. She took a cloth and wipe away some of the blood from his hand. After that she began to gauze his hand. "This is what happens when you volunteer to protect a little girl that won't tell us nothing."

"I'm so stupid."

Rouge looked away from his hurt hand and focused on him.

"I shouldn't have promised Kayla that I was going to protect her. The Street Punks know that once I let my guard down they'll go after her and I won't be there to save her. How could I make a promise that I can't keep."

Rouge made Shadow face her, "Listen Shadow, if you do fail to keep Kayla safe, you still tried your best."

Shadow looked away from her, "My best is not accepted in my missions."

Rouge continued to bandage him.

Kayla came into the room and looked at the sad hedgehog, "Detective Hedgehog, are you okay?"

Shadow didn't face Kayla, "I'm fine."

Kayla turned to Rouge, "Detective Bat, why is Detective Hedgehog sad?"

Rouge didn't say anything, she kept bandaging Shadow's hand.

"Are you ignoring me because I won't tell you about Project D.E.A.T.H.?"

Rouge finally faced her, "No dear, not that."

"Why are you sad?"

Rouge looked at Shadow turning the other way, "Well..."

"Don't bother making up another excuse", Shadow had suddenly said. He faced Kayla seriously, "Kayla, you're going to die and that's the way it's going to be."

Kayla's eyes started to water, "...What?"

Rouge was shocked to here that from Shadow, "Stop it, Shadow. Don't tell her that."

"It's the truth! I'm going to fail my duty and she's going to end up dying!" He shouted.

Kayla then bursted into tears, "How could you say that? I...hate you!" She ran upstairs into Rouge's bedroom and started to cry.

Rouge was upset with Shadow, "What the hell is wrong with you! How could you say that to such a scared little girl!"

"It's going to happen! We have no right to tell her lies!"

Rouge was angry with Shadow, "You stupid bastard!" She took her hand and slapped him in the face hard. She ran upstairs to see if Kayla was all right.

After when she left, Shadow decided to finish bandaging himself.

Meanwhile upstairs Rouge slowly entered her bedroom. She saw Kayla laying on her bed crying into her pillow. Rouge sat down on the bed and stroked through her hair, "Kayla, sweetheart are you okay?"

Kayla shook her head while her head was shoved in the pillow.

"I'm sorry for what Shadow said to you. It wasn't right."

Kayla lifted her head away from the pillow and faced Rouge with tears running down her cheeks, "Is it true what he said? Am I going to die?"

Rouge wiped away the tears from her cheeks, "Of course not. Shadow wasn't in a good mood that's all."

"He's so mean when he isn't in the mood."

Rouge held the child close, "He doesn't mean what he said."

"He sound like he did."

Rouge smiled at the girl, "He'll come around."

Then a grey fox broke through the window. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Rouge, "Give me the kid or else."

Rouge stood from the bed, "Lance! Shadow!"

Lance fired the gun at Rouge's arm.

Rouge fell to the floor while holding her bleeding arm, "Shadow..." she said in a hoarse voice.

Kayla screamed when Lance grabbed her by the arm, "Detective Hedgehog!"

Lance jumped out the window with Kayla screaming scared.

When Shadow finally made it into the room, Lance was gone with Kayla and Rouge was lying on the floor bleeding from her arm. He helped Rouge up, "What happened? Where's Kayla?"

Rouge answered in a hoarse voice, "Lance, he took her. You have to go after him."

"But what about you?"

"I'm fine! Go get Kayla!"

Shadow then left the house quickly to find Kayla, hoping she would be okay.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

**TRUTH**

Soon Shadow had caught up with Lance he saw him heading into his hideout. Shadow broke the door down and once he made it in a shotgun was pointed at his face.

A black and green squirrel was having a firm grip on the gun, "Hello Shadow."

"Zena, where's your boyfriend?"

"Got something to say, hedgehog?" A red porcupine walked up to him.

"Where's Kayla?" Shadow asked.

Appex laughed a bit, "Like I'm going to tell you."

"Lance took the girl into the training room. You know where that's at right?" Maxcell then realized he told the wrong thing to Shadow.

Appex faced Maxcell, "You idiot!"

While Appex and Zena had their attention on Maxcell, Shadow decided to make his move. He kicked the gun out of Zena's hand and he kicked her to the face.

They ran after him.

Shadow turned around and faced him, "Chaos Control!"

Then they all froze and didn't move.

Shadow smirked, "That ought to stop you." He ran into the training room. He saw Lance talking to Kayla. "Lance!"

The grey fox turned and faced Shadow, "Shadow, you're here so soon?"

"Don't play that way. If you harm her I'll..."

"Do what? Kill me? Heh, I don't think so. You don't have the guts."

Shadow clenched his fists, "You're going down."

Lance pulled a pocket knife and held it near Kayla's neck.

She began to cry, "Detective Hedgehog, help me..."

"Don't cry, Kayla. I won't let him hurt you", Shadow tried to keep her calm.

"She won't die unless she tells me about Project D.E.A.T.H." Lance held the blade closer to her neck.

Kayla felt the blade of the knife touch her neck. She started to panic. She began to scream, "It's touching me!"

Shadow's hand glowed a yellow color, "Chaos Spear!"

A yellow spear knocked the small knife out of Lance's hand.

Lance smirked, he ran up to Shadow and punched him in the stomach.

Shadow kneeled to the ground holding his stomach. He hadn't noticed, but Lance had taken away his machete from his belt.

Lance held the weapon in a stabbing position at Shadow. He ran at Shadow with the point of the blade coming at him.

Shadow moved out the way.

Lance missed. He faced Shadow, "You really don't wanna die do you?" Lance took the machete and sliced at Shadow's arm.

Shadow fell to the floor holding his bleeding arm.

Lance again sliced the blade at Shadow. This time he got his chest.

Shadow couldn't go on. He couldn't move anymore. He was bleeding everywhere.

Lance was about to stab him again, until a voice called out to him.

"No, don't do it!"

Lance looked behind him and saw the little girl crying.

Her tears were running down her cheeks and falling on the floor, "Please, don't hurt Detective Hedgehog anymore."

Lance didn't move the blade away from Shadow, "If you care about him so much then tell me. What is Project D.E.A.T.H.?"

The girl got ready to tell him, "I'll tell you. Dandy Expert Advice Trustworthy Health. That's what it is."

Lance didn't understand, "What the hell does that mean?"

"It's a cure for lung cancer."

Lance was shocked, "What! It's not a weapon? It's some kind of health experiment? Damn you girl! I'm gonna kill you!" Lance ran up to her and had the blade in a stabbing position towards Kayla.

The girl got scared. She fell to the floor and closed her eyes tightly. She screamed. In a couple of seconds later, no harm came to her. She opened her eyes and saw a black hedgehog on top of her. Her eyes filled with water, "Detective Hedgehog..."

Shadow tried to smile, "Close call huh?"

"Why? You hate me..."

"I don't hate you, Kayla. I'm sorry for saying those things to you. I was just scared that something was going to happen to you. That's all." He fell off of Kayla with the machete stabbed through his chest.

Kayla removed the machete from his chest, "Detective Hedgehog!" She watched as Shadow coughed up some of his blood. "No, you can't die!"

"I won't die", Shadow coughed up more blood.

Kayla then saw Lance pointing a gun at Shadow. Tears ran down her cheeks, 'Detective Hedgehog wouldn't be this way if it weren't for me. He's dying because he's protecting me. I like him. I don't want him to die.'

Shadow was still laying on the floor injured.

Lance pulled the trigger to the gun.

The next thing Lance knew he didn't kill Shadow. Instead he got the girl.

Kayla fell to the floor bleeding from her head.

Lance dropped his gun to the floor and ran.

Shadow finally had the strength to get up. He crawled over to Kayla's body, "Kayla! Kayla, speak to me!"

The child opened her eyes a bit and faced Shadow, "I'm sorry for hurting you."

"Hurt me? You didn't do anything to me. Why did you do that? Why did you take the bullet?"

"I wanted to save you. You did the same for me and I wanted to help you."

Shadow began to cry, "No, I'm your protector. I'm suppose to do that."

"I know I just wanted to return the favor. You're the best daddy in the world."Afterwards she died.

Water was forming in his eyes, "Kayla..." He began to cry, "Kayla!"

Then Rouge came in the room with the rest of the Chaotix. She ran towards the bleeding hedgehog, "Shadow, what happened?"

Shadow answered while still crying, "Kayla...she...I couldn't save her..."

Rouge looked at the corpse of the little girl, "Oh my god, Kayla..." She held Shadow close to her, "She was a good kid."

Shadow cried into Rouge's chest, "Kayla! KAYLA!"


End file.
